The Lions, who won the Swiss league title last season, rank second in the league this season. They had no locked-out NHL players before Brown signed.

On Friday, the lone top Swiss team without an NHL player, HC Fribourg-Gotteron, added one. Montreal Canadiens center David Desharnais, who had 60 points in 81 games, last season, will report next week.

The Lions said Brown is expected to arrive in the middle of next week. The Swiss league takes a break that week for international tournaments, so the earliest he could play is Nov. 13.

"He kept holding off on offers hoping that the CBA would have been resolved by this point, and finally just decided that he wants to play the game he loves," Norton said.